In his address at the Chamber’s annual awards presentation and dinner recently, Boyer said 2002 was a year of unprecedented events as criminal activity that was always festering, “exploded with a vengeance that engulfed us all.”

Noting that Guyanese are living in troubled times, he said in the eighties and nineties, businesses were marginalised by a State-controlled economy and Guyanese were asked to tighten their belts, as even basic commodities were hard to come by.

“Today, we are being asked to draw our belts into our backs, so to speak, as astronomical utility bills assault us, as taxes increase on those of us who are unfortunate to be caught within the IMF dictated tax net, and above all, a crime situation that is threatening to devour us all,” Boyer said.

He added: “To be a businessman of any consequence in Guyana today, one either has to really love this country, or be slightly crazy. Incidentally, I’m one who loves this country. The temptation to throw up our hands in despair and leave the shores of this land must be something that is ever present in the minds of those of us who are wondering: what’s next?

Boyer said, however, that big businesses have big responsibilities and closure would mean unemployment for hundreds and consequently, even more crime and unrest.

“We in the business community must continue to persevere. We must continue to support social relief causes. Statistics reveal that in Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica), out of every 10,000 persons, there is an estimated 145 persons with HIV/AIDS,” added.

Boyer noted that the paradox about Guyana is that while over-population continues to be problem for most other countries in the world, the local population continues to dwindle. ‘We are losing valuable human resources either because of the scourge of AIDS, crime or our inability as a nation to retain our best and brightest. HRM in Guyanese parlance is now “Human Remains Management”.

Boyer said it seems as though businessmen are “running up a ‘down’ escalator. “As fast as we try to expand, utility rates, political instability, punitive taxation or brutal crimes pull us down again. And make no mistake about this, when we are down, the economy is down.

He added that it is a sad state of affairs for a country to boast much potential and yet be so impoverished, noting, “I resolutely believe that the people of Guyana are accountable to a great extent for their destiny. Instead of focusing on shared values and goals, we focus on differences. Instead of trying to alleviate these differences, we exacerbate them. It’s in the minds that wars start in the same vein, it has to be in our minds that reconciliation begins.”

At the national level, Boyer said the business community demands that the country’s leaders stop playing politics and pull the torn nation together. He noted that the private sector is doing its best to hold a united position and the Georgetown Chamber, as the oldest private sector institution in the country, has undertaken to sign a memorandum of understanding with other Chambers in the country.

“This action will pave the way for information sharing, networking of businesses, trading of services and skills and a host of other positive spin offs,” he explained.

Boyer told businessmen that it is only when they unite on a common platform, that their collective energies can be efficiently channelled to produce the desired results.

He called on them not to be complacent, but to galvanise through an institution that was created by business people for business people. He said that despite the fact that only a small corps of executives is forging ahead with the task of promoting trade and industry, they have made remarkable strides.

Boyer listed the Chamber’s input in national crime consultations and its hiring of a crime specialist who conducted several anti-crime seminars to benefit its members.

It also contracted a medical specialist from the John Hopkins University to conduct a workshop on stress management and banking specialists to explain the technicalities of the banking system.

It also hired a consultant to deal with problems at the Customs and Trade Administration and its input on anti-dumping and countervailing measures affecting exporters to the USA, Canada and the Caribbean is on the United Nations website.

The Chamber has also started a school business sensitisation programme and is collaborating with the University of Guyana to develop synergies that would see the University reshaping its curriculum to more pertinently address the needs of the private sector.

Explaining a different touch to its award ceremony this year, Boyer said the Chamber decided to honour the movers and shakers of the companies that blaze that trail in Guyana, the region and farther afield.